Missouri baseball team shuts out Alabama A&M

Quentin Alsbrooks did not pitch well for Alabama A&M on Wednesday, but he did something no other pitcher had done in Missouri’s previous three games: force Brian Sharp to make an out.

Missouri’s utilityman has been hitting at a torrid place — he had reached base in 11 straight plate appearances entering the game — and continued to hit well Wednesday. Though Alsbrooks forced Sharp to hit into a fielder’s choice in the first inning, the junior ripped an RBI single in the second.

Behind a Trey Harris grand slam, the Tigers (7-3) shut out Alabama A&M 14-0. Sharp went 1 for 2 with a walk and has reached base 13 of his last 14 plate appearances. Five Missouri players collected an RBI against the Bulldogs, and the Tigers drew 16 walks.

After hurling two scoreless frames in his first career start, junior Jordan Gubelman loaded the bases with one out in the third inning. Missouri coach Steve Bieser turned to his bullpen, and Cameron Dulle delivered. The redshirt junior struck out the first two batters he saw, and the Tigers escaped the inning unfazed. As the righty walked off the field, Missouri’s top starter, Bryce Montes de Oca, was the first to greet him.

Dulle finished the day with three strikeouts in 2 2/3 innings and did not allow a run.

“Sometimes my fastball will have a little bit more movement than other days,” Dulle said. “It just depends on the day. I can’t really tell you why or what it is, but it definitely seemed like one of those days where it was working for me.”

The Tigers added to their lead in the fourth behind RBI hits from Zach Hanna, Chris Cornelius and Harris. Alsbrooks did not help his cause with three walks and a wild pitch, and Missouri left the inning with a 10-0 lead.

Misner had a solid day, going 1 for 3, but his most significant play came in the field. With A&M runners on first and second in the fifth, Carl Parker hit a shot directly to Misner. The sophomore speared the liner, stepped on first to double off one runner, then threw to second for the third out of the inning. It was the Tigers’ first triple play since Feb. 23, 2015, against Purdue.

Misner said it was the first triple play he’d been a part of since middle school.

“When you have a pitcher out there who’s battling, just being able to get him out of the inning like that is a pretty big rush,” Misner said.

The Tigers did not need any more run support, but Harris gave it to them anyway. His sixth-inning grand slam sailed over the left-field wall to extend the lead to 14. The senior has two dingers on the year after slugging 12 in 2017.

Harris said he had been frustrated with his performance at the plate before the homer, so he was thrilled when the ball left the bat. Before starting his home-run trot, the outfielder did a spontaneous bat flip.

“If you know me, you know nothing I do is predetermined,” Harris said. “I’m just wild all the time. … When I hit it and it felt pure, I was just really excited and it just happened.”

Missouri’s Cameron Pferrer and Drake Greenwood each hurled a scoreless inning in their collegiate debuts. Pferrer was coming off lat injury, and Greenwood did not make the travel roster for the Tigers’ trip to Florida.

“I like what I saw,” Bieser said. “Both guys came in and attacked the strike zone. It’s easier to pitch in those games, but there wasn’t a whole lot of fear of contact.”

After an 11-day road trip to Florida, playing two home games against the Bulldogs was a welcome experience for Missouri. The Tigers are in Columbia for eight more games before heading to LSU on March 16 for the conference opener.

Harris has bounced around the Missouri lineup against A&M (he hit in the two-hole Wednesday after batting cleanup Tuesday), which he’s OK with as long as the offense is producing. In his senior year with the Tigers, the outfielder wants to capitalize on his final chance to make the NCAA postseason.

“I don’t really care where I hit,” he said. “I can hit leadoff and bunt four times, I don’t care. I just want to go to a regional.”

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